The Heart of the Gospel

“But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Rom. 3:21-26)
Here Paul declares that Christ died to pay our sin debt so that God could “justify”sinners and at the same time remain “just” Himself. Throughout the Old Testament, sins were merely “passed over,” the payment of their guilt being rolled forward year after year until the Lamb should come whose death could truly take them away (Hebr. 9:15). All during this time, it appeared that God was being unrighteous, since He justified men (like Abraham and David) without justice being truly satisfied. Therefore it was necessary that Christ should die “publicly,” openly demonstrating God's righteousness for all to see, by making full satisfaction for sin on the cross. In this sense, Christ died, not only to justify men, but to justify God! His death on the cross vindicated and demonstrated the absolute justice of God in justifying His people. As a “propitiation” (i.e. a wrath-removing sacrifice) for our sins, Christ turns away God's judicial wrath from us. We are “justified as a gift” (Justification is absolutely free to us.), “through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Justification was very costly to God). We are justified by receiving the “gift of righteousness” (Rom. 5:17) “even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ” (Rom. 3:22).
Are you still under the wrath of God? “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). There is a “fountain for sin and impurity” (Zech. 13:1). “The blood of Jesus, God's Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). No matter how great your sins may be, they are nothing compared to the infinite worth of Christ's blood! (1 Pet. 1:18-19; Acts 20:28). “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20). Come to Him! He invites and commands you to come; you need not fear that you are being presumptuous by coming: “And let the one who is thirsty some; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost” (Rev. 22:17; Matt. 11:28). Come to Him! Take the water of life! Cast your sins upon Him and trust Him as your sin-bearer. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31).
[This article is an excerpt from the book "Justification and Regeneration" by Charles Leiter, available at www.heartcrymissionary.com]

"If any man thirst"

Souls of men have been thirsty ever since Adam turned his back on God. Thirsty for rest; thirsty for peace; thirsty for eternal life; thirsty for God. The greatest and the least; the wisest and the most simple; the outcast and the Pharisee, they all know this thirst. Here was a man who dared to cry, "If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink." If He were only a man, these words were among the most blasphemous ever spoken. Had any other man but Christ said these words, he would be either pitied as a madman, or scorned as a most notorious blasphemer. No one feels that way about Him. These words from His lips carry with them the simple conviction of truth, so that without the least effort we bow our hearts to their blessed proclamation. But what wonderful words they are! Think of Him being able to quench the thirst of any man any where! This stranger from Galilee! this "carpenter" from Nazareth declaring He could meet the deep desires of the souls of men! How utterly stupendous the declaration! How absolutely God-like the promises! Surely, never man spake like this man.

~taken from "Our Lord Jesus Christ: A Plant of Renown" by Leonard Sheldrake

Can you find another like Jesus?

The religion of our Lord Jesus Christ contains in it nothing so wonderful as Himself. It is a mass of marvels, but He is the miracle of it; the wonder of wonders is “the Wonderful” Himself. If proof be asked of the truth which He proclaimed, we point men to Jesus Christ Himself. His character is unique. We defy unbelievers to imagine another like Him.He is God and yet man, and we challenge them to compose a narrative in which the two apparently incongruous characters shall be so harmoniously blended-in which the human and divine shall be so marvelously apparent, without the one overshading the other. They question the authenticity of the four Gospels; will they try to write a fifth? Will they even attempt to add a few incidents to the life which shall be worthy of the sacred biography, and congruous with those facts which are already described? If it be all a forgery, will they be so good as to show us how it is done? Will they find a novelist who will write another biography of a man of any century they choose, of any nationality, or of any degree of experience, or any rank or station, and let us see if they can describe in that imaginary life a devotion, a self-sacrifice, a truthfulness, a completeness of character at all comparable to that of Jesus Christ Himself? Can they invent another perfect character even if the divine element be left out? They must of necessity fail, for there is none like unto Jesus Himself. ~Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of the New Testament

"Man's chief care, his highest virtue, and his only happiness, now and through all eternity, is to present himself as an empty vessel in which God can dwell and manifest His power and goodness."

"We must seek a humility which will rest in nothing less than the end and of self; which gives up all the honor of men as Jesus did, to seek the honor that comes from God alone; which absolutely makes and counts itself nothing so that God may be all, that the Lord alone may be exalted. Until we seek humility in Christ above our chief joy, and welcome it at any price, there is very little hope of a religion that will conquer the world."

"What would happen if believers were to become permanently guided by the humility of Jesus?"
~taken from “Humility”
by A. Murray

Your Life Preaches Every Day

A man is what he is on his knees
before God and nothing more!
In great measure,
according to the purity of the instrument,
will be success.
It is not great talents
which God blesses so much
as true likeness to Jesus.
A holy minister is a powerful weapon
in the hand of God.

~Robert Murray McCheyne

"O that poor sinners would go to Jesus, believing in the power of his blessed substitutionary work, and they would soon learn the power of his gracious touch. That hand which multiplied the loaves, which saved sinking Peter, which upholds afflicted saints, which crowns believers, that same hand will touch every seeking sinner, and in a moment make him clean. The love of Jesus is the source of salvation. He loves, he looks, he touches us, WE LIVE."
C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Folk may chastise you for taking God’s Word so seriously.
God will chastise you if you don’t. ~Leonard Ravenhill

"Before the mountains were born,
before You gave birth to the earth and the world,
from eternity to eternity, You are God!"
~Psalm 90:2

"....Let the Kingdom be always before you,
and believe stedfastly concerning things
that are invisible: Let nothing that is on this side
the other World get within you:
and above all, look well to your own Hearts,
and to the Lusts thereof,
for they are deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked;
set your faces like a flint;
you have all power in Heaven and Earth on your side."
~Evangelist,
Pilgrim's Progress
page 96, Banner of Truth edition